Outside of D.C., where do feds live?
FEW compiled an interactive map that breaks down the federal population by state.
By John Buckner
Federal News Radio
The nation’s 2.06 million federal employees and 703,312 postal employees reside all over the country, not just D.C., but where do most of them live?
While nothing compares to the 813,668 federal employees living in the D.C./Maryland/Virginia area, the states with the highest number of federal employees are:
- California – 465,912
- Texas – 354,133
- Virginia – 307,719
- Maryland – 296,295
- Florida – 244,560
The states with the lowest numbers of federal employees are:
- South Dakota – 21,121
- New Hampshire – 20,398
- Rhode Island – 18,759
- North Dakota – 14,956
- Vermont – 10,792
The latest research conducted by Federally Employed Women (FEW) shows that 80 percent of the federal workforce lives outside of the District of Columbia.
Janet Kopenhaver, Washington representative for FEW, told Federal News Radio the data is very beneficial to federal employees all over the country.
FEW, a non-profit organization, began compiling data of what states and congressional districts federal employees live in around six years ago. FEW also provides data on agency representation in each state.
“There were a couple of things that struck me. First, I would say in virtually every county, I can’t say totally every county, but virtually every county, postal workers went down,” said Kopenhaver. She says the agencies that went up the most were the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs.
Overall, many federal agencies gained employees but only slightly which Kopenhaver attributes to “the increased services federal workers are providing to Americans each and every day.”
Kopenhaver said the number of federal employees has risen to more than eight percent per 1,000.
Since 2003, FEW has been able to give Capitol Hill an idea of it’s impact on federal workers with new data every two years. Kopenhaver said the data is important “because these legislators are not only making statements about the federal workforce but making decisions that directly impact them.”
Kopenhaver hopes this data will be an asset to legislators in their district offices by “bringing the statistics with them and again, impress upon them there are many constituents in their districts that are concerned with federal worker’s issues.”
She said one of the main issues is the debate over federal versus private sector pay.
“We are trying to refute and get the real facts out about federal pay.”
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